TREASURY

Anti-Avoidance

David Gauke: The consultation on the introduction of a general anti-abuse rule closed on 14 September 2012, and the response document will be published in December. I am today announcing that the advisory panel will be established formally as a committee by the commissioners for HMRC, but HMRC will not be represented on the panel. The formal process will commence shortly to appoint a chair of the advisory panel, who will play a leading role in the appointment of other panel members during 2013. In order to put necessary arrangements in place for the consideration and approval of draft guidance, HMRC has invited Graham Aaronson QC, who led the GAAR study group, to lead an interim group of panel members to review and approve the guidance. Draft guidance will be published in December and will be approved in time for the introduction of the legislation into Parliament.

EDUCATION

Adoption Legislation

Edward Timpson: Following a review of adoption undertaken with an expert working group of local authorities, voluntary adoption agencies and adoptive parents, the Secretary of State for Education informed the House in March 2012 that the Government had accepted in principle its recommendations and was publishing “An Action Plan for Adoption: Tackling Delay”. I am today laying draft legislation before the House for pre-legislative scrutiny that fulfils commitments made in that document.
	The Government aim to reform the adoption system to remove barriers and reduce delay so that all children for whom adoption is in their best interests can be placed with adoptive families without unnecessary delay. In particular, the Government are committed to requiring local authorities to place children for adoption as early as possible where adoption is in their best interests. The Government aim to reduce the time children have to wait for an adoptive placement, and to enable more children to be placed in stable, loving homes with less delay and disruption. This will improve children’s chances of leading full and happy lives.
	The draft legislation laid before the House today would encourage early permanence practice in placing children. It would place a duty on local authorities to give preference to a “fostering for adoption” placement if they are satisfied that such a placement is in the child’s best interests and is the most appropriate placement available for that child. Local authorities would be
	under this duty where they have decided that a child they are looking after ought to be placed for adoption, and have matched the child with particular prospective adopters but the local authority does not have authority to place the child for adoption. The prospective adopters would have to be approved as local authority foster parents before the child could be placed with them. New regulations made under existing legislation and currently subject to consultation will make this a quicker and easier process in appropriate cases.
	The draft legislation would also remove the express duty in the current primary legislation which requires adoption agencies to give due consideration to religious persuasion, racial origin and cultural and linguistic background, when matching children with prospective adopters. We are proposing to remove this because of the concern that the express provision has caused local authorities to have undue regard to that factor. This change would reinforce the existing legislative emphasis on the welfare of the child and the impact of any delay.
	This draft legislation would meet the commitments made by the Government in the Queen’s Speech to stop damaging delays by local authorities in matching parents to children for whom adoption is the right decision. These provisions would apply in relation to England only. Copies of the draft legislation will be available in the Libraries of both Houses.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Syria

William Hague: I would like to provide the House with an update on Syria since my last statement, 18 October 2012, Official Report, column 34WS.
	This week talks are taking place in Doha between members of Syrian opposition groups. The United Kingdom, France, Turkey, the United States and other international partners will attend the meeting on 8 November.
	Our objective is to encourage Syria’s opposition groups to unite around a vision for a democratic and stable Syria. This is necessary to offer the Syrian people a credible alternative to the Assad regime and to achieve an inclusive political transition that ends the appalling bloodshed and reflects the will of the Syrian people.
	Last year I established the full-time and dedicated role of special representative to the Syrian opposition to co-ordinate our diplomatic contacts with opposition figures. Jon Wilks, the current incumbent, is attending the meeting in Doha.
	We have taken gradual steps to establish and deepen contacts with new actors emerging in Syria. These include political opposition groups, local co-ordination groups working to deliver services in areas no longer under the full control of the regime, and human rights activists and civil society groups struggling for a free future for the country.
	These contacts are essential if we are to deliver practical support to help save lives, to detect and seek to deter human rights violations and abuses, to increase the prospect of a political transition and to prepare the support Syria will need to recover from conflict. These efforts are particularly important in the absence of a
	British embassy in Syria. We discuss our work frequently with the joint UN and Arab League special representative for Syria with the US, our regional allies and our European partners.
	As well as increasing our development assistance to the Syrian people, we have gradually increased our efforts to build the capacity and co-ordination of unarmed opposition groups inside Syria. This includes the provision of technical, non-lethal equipment such as radios and emergency power generators, as well as training journalists and civil society groups on human rights.
	Earlier this year I instructed FCO officials to begin to make contacts outside Syria with political representatives of armed Syrian opposition groups. I informed the House of this on 3 September 2012, Official Report, column 54, Vol. 549.
	Such groups are playing an increasingly influential role within Syria as the conflict worsens. I have therefore now authorised my officials to have direct contact with an even wider range of representatives including military figures in the armed opposition. This will help us to understand better the situation in Syria and the relationship between political and armed opposition groups so we can properly support political transition.
	All contacts will take place outside Syria, and then only in environments we deem suitably secure. Each potential contact will be explored cautiously and on a case-by-case basis. Through continuous assessment, we will make every effort to ensure that FCO officials engage only with legitimate representatives of the opposition. We will continue to adhere to our clearly stated policy of only supplying non-lethal support to the unarmed opposition. All support is in compliance with both the EU arms embargo and our own stringent export licensing laws. In all contacts my officials will stress the importance of respecting human rights and international human rights norms, rejecting extremism and terrorism, and working towards peaceful political transition. British contacts with military elements of the Syrian armed opposition will be limited to a political dialogue including working towards an inclusive political transition.
	The decision to engage with military representatives of the armed opposition in a political dialogue supports our efforts to achieve a peaceful and sustained political solution to the crisis as set out in the Geneva communiqué, and avoid wider conflict.
	I will keep the House informed of further developments relating to Syria.